High Desert Detective, A Fiona Marlowe Mystery (Fiona Marlowe Mysteries) Read Online Free PDF Page B

songs.”
    “You bet. Do you know Home
on the Range ?”
    Fiona sang a few bars, and Jake laughed. “You call that singing?”
he said.
    Fiona laughed with him. “I forgot to tune my voice this morning.”
    “It doesn’t matter how you sound. What matters is that you’re
making music with your friends and enjoying it. Let’s try Home on the Range together.”
    They sang as they rode along, Jake helping her with the words, Fiona
enjoying herself immensely. She hadn’t sung in years. There was something about
the combination of singing, the endless distance before them, not another person
in sight, and Jake’s company on a road trip that made her happy. She couldn’t
remember the last time she had felt this light and free from the cares of the
world.
    Jake pointed to what looked like mist rising from the grass that
bordered the east side of the road up ahead. “There’s a roadside hot spring.
We’ll stop, and I’ll give you a tour. We could even take a dip if you want.”
    “Swim on the same day we drive through a snow squall?”
    He shrugged. “Why not? There’s a little
cement pool at the far end, and the water isn’t as hot there. It’d be perfect.
You’ll love it.”
      He glanced in the rear
view mirror. “That’s odd. Someone’s coming up mighty fast behind us.”
    “You mean faster than we’re travelling?” she asked.
    “I’m not kidding. Maybe he’s going to Fields store for a
milkshake and burger and is afraid they’ll sell out before he arrives.”
    Fiona turned around in time to see the driver swing out and
around to pass, take the swing too wide, and plane off the gravel by the side
of the road. Stones shot everywhere. The small car lurched side to side, did an
impressive three sixty, then skidded sideways some distance before it bounced
down an embankment to the left and crashed through a barbed wire fence. Jake
swerved to miss the careening vehicle, forcing them into an upward sloping embankment
on the right side of the road. They slammed to a stop, but not before digging
up a nose full of rabbit brush.
    “Are you okay?” Jake asked, leaning toward her and putting a hand
on her shoulder.
    They looked at each other bug-eyed, blinking. Present time tried
to catch up to the surreal time lapse of the accident.
    Fiona checked them over. “I don’t see any blood.” She held up her
hand. “I’m a bit shaky but in one piece. I’m glad we had our seat belts on.”
    “Are you sure you’re okay?” Jake said, as he looked her over.
    Fiona nodded. “I think so. Where did that car go?”
    Jake released his seat belt and banged on the door to open it.
“That’s what I’m going to find out. Looks like he ended up in
the hot spring. You wait here.”
    Fiona never listened to well-intentioned advice. Her door was against
a wall of crushed rabbit brush, so she climbed over the console and followed Jake
out his door. On the ground she had to steady herself against the truck door
until the ground stopped spinning. It had all happened so fast she was
disoriented and a little dizzy.
    Jake crossed the road and looked around, assessing the situation.
Fiona saw the problem as soon as she joined him. The car had landed with its
rear end in a pool of hot spring water. The front end of the car was facing up
the embankment.
    “I think I can make out two heads in the front seat,” Jake said.
“Wait here. I mean it. Don’t follow me down the bank. I don’t know how deep the
water is, and it is scalding along here. You wouldn’t want to accidently fall
in.”
      “I hope whoever is in the
car isn’t par-boiled.”
    “They’re lucky. I don’t think they hit the water. The way the car
is situated, it looks like only the rear end slid into the water.”
    Jake picked his way down the steep embankment to the wreck,
holding onto brush as he went. Fiona was more than happy to take orders this
time and hoped there wouldn’t be any blood. The sight of it made her faint. She
couldn’t see any